For those of us who enjoy playing some
quick pinball on a regular basis, it’s always nice to see a new pinball
title on the Pocket PC. Mobilair’s Creepy Pinball takes
a rather simple and traditional route, but delivers a pretty
good table regardless.

There’s just one table, and it’s played on a single
screen. I personally consider the single screen system to be
a plus. The titles that zoom on the pinball and pan around
the table can be rather distracting, there’s really no
reason it can’t be fit on the screen. There are very
little gimmicks or tricks to this table, just some bumpers,
a few ramps, and a 3 ball multiball lock. Pretty good, but
not altogether very deep. The targets and ramps do make for
a good challenge, even if it can get a little annoying watching
the two jump pads play catch with each other for awhile from
time to time.

I find that the control feels better
to me than most pinball engines on the Pocket PC. The ball
feels smoother, and flows more like I’d expect it to around the table. It’s
an issue I’ve never quite been satisfied with on the
Pocket PC pinball titles, and so I’m pleased Creepy Pinball
has a pretty smooth engine. Unfortunately, it’s not without
its faults. Whenever a new sound file is played or a new bonus
hit, the engine noticeably skips a few beats. I’ve also
seen the psychics do some pretty strange things, and the ball
tends to drop off the paddle rather sharply. I’ve even
had some lockup issues from time to time, which may be software
conflict somewhere.

The graphics are all around rather
impressive, well themed and well implemented throughout.
The menu buttons are a bit rough, but the table itself looks
surprisingly good overall. The sounds are suited to the theme,
but they tend to be a rather canned and warmed over. There’s no real music, just a
tiny title beat, so you could mute your sound and not lose
much… which might be the case regardless if you like
a quick round of pinball in public places.

While Creepy Pinball does have a few
issues and some bland areas, the feel is still smoother than
many pinball titles I’ve tried. That alone makes it worth adding to my collection
, but others may be a little more demanding. The single screen
view and rather good graphics at a pretty good price give plenty
of reasons to check this one out. I sure wouldn’t mind
seeing a series of tables from these developers, hopefully
improving on each one along the way. As a first shot in pinball,
it’s a solid start.

Nothing annoying, but the sound effects are all rather canned and there’s
no real music to speak of.

Fun Meter

If you’re a pinball fan looking
for a quick table to play whenever, Creepy Pinball is probably
worth adding to your collection. It’s not the deepest
engine or most in-depth table, but it is quick fun all around.

Addictivity

One table and only a few bonuses give unfortunately limited depth to the game,
but there’s still plenty of reason to replay whenever you’ve got
a few minutes to spare.